Absorbing the Blows That Buffet Europe

Paris accelerated payments and tax reimbursements to small and medium-size companies; it deferred tax payments and accepted deductions immediately, auditing them later; it gave subsidies equal to almost a month’s salary per worker so firms could reduce labor costs and inventory without losing employees. And Paris provided some credit guarantees, so that shell-shocked banks were more willing to make loans to small companies like this one.

HB-Henriot is a prime example of how France is not only weathering the economic storm, but has emerged as one of the most stable economies in Europe, the first to pull out of recession and with unexpectedly large growth in the last quarter of 2009, while the German recovery stalled. Read the complete article in the NYTimes here.